If you’ve started adding microgreens to your diet, you may have gotten the impression that microgreens are basically tiny versions of familiar vegetables. And for some, that’s true—but broccoli is completely different! That’s because with mature broccoli, what we eat is the flower heads just before the flowers open up. But immature broccoli doesn’t have flower heads, so with broccoli microgreens what we eat are the little baby leaves and stems. They look a lot like other microgreen varieties, but they still taste like broccoli.
That flavor is something to keep in mind, since it’s a little bitter. It’s also stronger than you might think—the fact is that everything you add broccoli micragreens to is gonna taste like broccoli. That’s usually a good thing, but sometimes it’s not. Some things just shouldn’t taste like broccoli. Fruit smoothies for example—unless that’s your thing, I mean. Whatever you want to do, go ahead and do it! Lots of people like broccoli microgreens fresh in salads or on sandwiches (especially with
avocado), or you can steam them with other greens, like spinach, to add a more complex taste. Some people even make broccoli microgreen pesto!
So, let’s talk about nutrition. Basically, it’s not physically possible to get too many calories from broccoli microgreens. They’re mostly water, crunch, and vitamins. There’s some protein and some fiber, too, but honestly you’re not going to meet your need for either here.
Vitamin E on the other hand? These greens have a ton! A one-cup serving gives you more than double the amount of vitamin E you need for your whole day! Does that mean you need to worry about eating too much? Maybe if you ate lots of broccoli microgreens with every meal forever—seriously, vitamin E overdose is possible, but it only happens to people who get way too much on a regular basis for a long time. The primary symptom is you bleed more easily, so maybe just don’t go overboard on these if you’re also taking blood thinners.
Broccoli microgreens are also a good source of vitamin C and vitamin A, and they’re a decent source of both manganese and magnesium, too. And in case you’re wondering, mature broccoli isn’t the same, nutritionally, as broccoli microgreens. In some respects the mature vegetable does have more—a lot more vitamin A and a little more protein and fiber. But if you’re looking at vitamin E and C, magnesium, or manganese, the microgreens have two or three times as much. I mean, I’m impressed!